In a move that has attracted jibes from across the spectrum, the Kerala government has appointed a senior IAS officer as ‘Foreign Secretary’.
The Kerala government of Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) has appointed K Vasuki, who currently serves as the Secretary (Labour and Skills), as the Secretary In-Charge of Matters Concerning External Cooperation, according to The Times of India.
Since the nation’s external relations are vested with the Union government, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has taken an issue with the move and has dubbed the appointment as ‘blatant overreach’ of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s government. The Congress has also dubbed the move as “fairly unusual”.
What will be role as Kerala’s ‘Foreign Secretary’?
In her new role, Vasuki will be in charge of “matters connected with external cooperation”, as per a government order issued this week.
Vasuki will coordinate and supervise all the matters connected with external cooperation and will be assisted by the General Administration (Political) department of the state government until alternate arrangements are made, according to The Times of India.
As per the government order issued on July 15, and cited by the newspaper, Vasuki will be assisted by the resident commissioner of Kerala House in New Delhi in matters of external cooperation and to liaise with Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) or Indian diplomatic missions abroad.
Questions raised at Kerala govt’s decision
Both the Congress and the BJP have questioned Vasuki’s appointment in a role that appears to encroach into the MEA’s turf.
BJP Kerala President K Surendran dubbed Vasuki’s appointment as blatant overreach of state’s mandate.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Surendran said the move was unconstitutional and questioned if Vijayan wanted to establish a separate nation in Kerala.
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, who is an MP from Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram, dubbed the move as “fairly unusual”.
Tharoor, however, said that it is entirely appropriate for state governments to work without embassies abroad for matter involving their residents.
Tharoor told PTI, “The fact is that foreign relations are controlled by the Union government and no state government has any independent foreign relations but it is entirely appropriate for state governments to work without Embassies abroad for matter involving their residents. Now, to give a specific responsibility of this nature to one official is fairly unusual. But it is very clearly understood that she has no foreign relationship responsibility of her own but it would be basically through Indian government’s bodies.”
The Times of India, however, said such roles regarding the state’s residents are usually vested with officers informally liaising with the MEA. As far as the foreign affairs are concerned, the paper said that such business is usually conducted by either Secretary In-Charge of Non-Resident Keralite’s Affairs (NORKA) Department or officer in the rank of Secretary to CM.
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Kerala appoints senior IAS officer as ‘Foreign Secretary’, BJP calls it blatant overreach
